adventures in babysitting
 

I'll channel you into the thoughts of one of the biggest $$ generators here, (Not Calif.) my kid.,

My kid is just starting- $$ range from 6-10/hour going down as the number of hours increases. that is, running out for an hour 10$- going out for 6 hours , 7$ might be okay, but not NYE which requires a bigtime premium.

The best babysitter lives across the street so you don't have to drunk drive her home, but you should pay for her door-back to her door time. You must provide dinner/ and snacks. If you hire my daughter pizza is okay, I think absent some dietary thing this would be true of most.

This American Life has a hilarious story about babysitting food. if you download old ones and are interested let me know and I'll give episode detail.

adventures in babysitting
 

And if you cancel at the last minute, you have to pay them for the time you would have been out. I have to say I got paid in excess of $5/hr 15 years ago in the boonies so I'm surprised you people can get away with $7/hr. Add an additional $1 to $2 per hour for each child in excess of one. The babysitter should be told s/he may eat anything in the kitchen and should definitely be provided food if s/he will be at your house during the dinner hour. Ideally, you could ask ahead of time what s/he would like (or at least preferred toppings). I think I generally used to be left "real" food by my most preferred customers, and would be told to make kraft mac & cheese for the kids. If you do not have kid-friendly snacks in your house, buy some and leave them on the counter or whatever. GOD I hated babysitting for people who only had crappy (meaning healthy and boring) food in the house. I tended not to be as available for last-minute or extra-hours help for such people, if I continued caring for their kids at all.

adventures in babysitting
 

Around SV rates tend to be higher. It varies by (a) the experience and age of the sitter and (b) level of responsibility. All of our sitters get paid for the time they are actually at the house, but calculated generously so they are never shortchanged.

For college student and up - $16/hour, but it is expected that they will have a car, current driver's license, CPR training, ALWAYS show up on time, etc. These are the people you hire for regular gigs (say, shuttling to afternoon lessons one day a week). No food required at that pay level.

For 11-13 year olds that are at the house under controlled conditions (say parents are half a block away or otherwise readily accessible), $8/hour and yes, food. Pizza is popular if it is delivered.

For 14-18 year olds with a bit more to offer - say, help with homework, more responsibility if there is an accident, a little prep on the food front, $8-12/hour. Food yes.

Internet access is a bonus for the teenage sitters; and a couple decent DVDs that all can watch.

adventures in babysitting
 

We pay $8/hr in the burbs for a H.S. junior to watch one kid. She drives herself (in a much nicer car than I own, BTW). I don't generally pay her for the 12 mins. each way it takes to get here, but we tend to round up favorably if we've had wine with dinner and are less able to work out the math. She doesn't complain.

We've been paying $15/hour for an adult type, but that's for two small kids, one under the age of one.

adventures in babysitting
 

I pay $10/hour for a 20-ish year old babysitter who works days at a pre-school. I do not offer her dinner, but do the "help yourself to anything in the fridge or pantry". She ussually has a coke and mows through a bag of chips (she is at least 275 lbs.).

That said, the Brazenette is always asleep in her crib when the babysitter arrives, and has only woken up once while the babysitter was there...so really, we pay her $10/hour to watch TV.

adventures in babysitting
 

In the Baltimore-Washington corridor 'burbs, we pay about $7-8 an hour (rounded up usually to the nearest multiple of 10) for a high school freshman to sit two little ones in the evening. Grazing is expected, but she usually eats dinner with her family before we are even home from work. No way she's touching my computer, but she has run of the digital cable, DVD collection, CDs (right, like she's going to listen to the complete works of U2 and REM) and Playstation. She seems to like the Playstation.

We also have a couple of underemployed college graduates (they are "artists"), both of whom have prior experience working at excellent daycares, whom we pay $10-11 an hour to watch the kids during the day sometimes. Both are on Atkins (which seems to be working for both, BTW), so they tend to bring their own food, but we don't really care if they raid the pantry (except the one who keeps putting back the empty peanut butter jar back on the shelf - just toss it and get another out of the basement pantry). Both of these women tend to use their daycare/art experience to engage the kids, so they end up making hand turkeys and easter eggs and construction paper jack-o-lanterns.

No, you can't have their names.

Edited to add that the high schooler lives two doors down, so transport time really isn't an issue, and the clock starts for the older women when they get to our doorstep.

adventures in babysitting
 

Perhaps you should offer her dinner, consisting of carrot sticks or a salad.

adventures in babysitting
 

No way, dude. Fat & lonely = always available on Sat. p.m.

Brazen should leave Ding Dongs* lying around the house.

*Or King Dons or Big Wheels as geography may dictate.

adventures in babysitting
 

Well, home prices may be high here in Stumptown, but I pay less for babysitting than any of you. The very responsible oldest-child middle schooler (I think she's 13 now) across the street is Red Cross certified and only charges $5/hr. She's a gem--Magnus is always in bed asleep by the time we get home (contrast to once when she wasn't available and we had her less-responsible best friend, also Red Cross certified, come over. Magnus was still awake two hours past bedtime when we got home). As far as I can tell she never eats our food (though she'd certainly be welcome to). It's really nice to just watch for her to get to her door safely instead of having to schlep clear across town to take her home.

tm

adventures in babysitting
 

he might be joking about keeping a sitter avaialble, but you don't want to lose one because you're fifty cents cheaper than your neighbor, or because you have bad snacks. Stealing a sitter is acceptable in suburbia, people, and your sweet lovely neighbors who asked you to be godparent to their kids, will outbid you in a second. You think opposing counsel does shit? wait till you're competing for the 13 year old across the street.

Sitters
 

This was enlightening. I always wondered what people pay sitters. I have not yet hired a sitter to go to a movie/dinner that sort of thing and wouldn't feel write having someone else put Vietbabe to bed (and neither would she I'm sure). But for while she's sleeping, I'm going to start hiring sitters to catch a movie (like 500 feet away) and simply give my cell number if she wakes up.

But I am big on the combo thing. Example: I have a habit of hiring the grossly underpaid local cafe employees. One came over and helped me for 4 hours blow up balloons for Vietbabe's party, get the party tent set up, and "babysat" (she was big time safely sleeping") for 1/2 hour while I hit the store for last minute items. Total pay for 4 hours of work: $100. (Less out of pocket, considering the outrageous tent rental company wanted to charge me $200 to set up the tent and wouldn't have blown up balloons in my living room till midnite and sat for Vietbabe while I ran to the store).

I'm going to pay a higher than normal babysitting price and have the sitter (while Vietbabe is sleeping) "do stuff" like reorganize my cabinets, do a load of landry etc. It will be nice to come home from a movie knowing I put Vietbabe to bed, I saw a movie, and the place is in better condition than when I left. I also know a handyman who parented his now grown son who can fix stuff while she sleeps. Does anybody else pay more for sitters who do extra stuff around the house? As for dinner: I don't eat it and unless they dig formula, cheerios and frozen mini waffles, they're out of luck.

Viet_Mom

Non-Sibling Bully Sucker Punching Your Kid
 

Sis has 2 girls, 2yrs and 3yrs (both huge). The 2yr when she comes over lays claim on all Vietbabe's toys -- these are "mine" (and won't even share them) while Sis does nothing about it.

I don't say anything b/c Vietbabe doesn't seem to care. But lately she has been pushing Vietbabe against walls, and twice sucker punched her out of the blue. Sis just says, "see what it's like with a problem child?" (Um...yes, I do see it actually). Vietbabe is tough and cries briefly and gets right back up. Mom is annoyed that Sis does nothing about it (not even, "don't hit Vietbabe"). She did it again today when Sis wasn't there and I thought my Mom was going to go ballistic (physically) on the bully. I'm concerned b/c I think my parents get upset seeing this teeny baby getting clocked and they are very close to smacking the 2 year old (not calculated - just an upset immediate reaction to seeing Vietbabe fly across the room).

I don't know what to say to Sis. I actually feel bad she is dealing with this kid whereas Vietbabe (for now) is so incredibly easy (ah..13 months...heaven). Any advice on what to do? I'm not the conflict type so don't want to alienate my Sis (or tell her how to parent) and I don't want to stop having visits with the kids. But I know blood may drawn one day if nothing changes.

Thanks.

Viet_Mom

Non-Sibling Bully Sucker Punching Your Kid
 

welcome to the world of other people's kids. With friends, you can gravitate toward those who share your basic attitudes and values re: parenting (i.e., those that impose a reasonable modicum of discipline on unruly kiddos). With family, you don't get the same range of choices.

In your shoes, if 2 year old starts acting like Godzilla, you might take it upon yourself to intervene by separating the kids, or telling her "no" yourself- you probably can't actually impose a punishment for minor offenses without ticking off your sister, but it certainly sends a message that you think the behavior is unacceptable and might prompt her to do the same. If there is hitting, you may be within your rights to pick up the 2 year old and put her in a time out or in her mom's lap so mom can handle it- you may ruffle some feathers, but if the alternative is feeling uncomfortable with your nieces hangin out with your daughter, its worth it IMHO. (And if sis is not around (i.e., you are running a playdate), you have carte blanche to impose a time-out whenever the 2 year old gets out of hand).

Also, for what its worth, when No. 2 was about that age (or a little younger) and had issues with his big sister or older cousins or neighbors, I often gave him the same message I gave them about sharing and other behaviors- it didn't mean a thing to him until later, but gave the older kids the message that the same rules were being applied to young and old, and that they really were the rules.

And remember, Vietbabe will be 2 and 3 soon as well, so have a little tolerance for imperfect parenting in an imperfect situation (a little- not enough to let your child be hit). If sis has a 2 year old and a 3 year old at once, she may even appreciate the help.

adventures in babysitting
 

Threads and I are going to attract all your babysitters. We generally pay $12 per hour plus tip, and tip start at $10 - 15 for an easy evening where the kids are asleep most of the time. Open access to food, dvds, etc. Usually we try to develop a relationship that includes many perks, so the best ones stay with us. This means everything from lending them books, dvds, etc. to buying them presents on the normal occassions to helping them with their own school projects when we can. If we've been using someone weekly for several months, we pay them our usual amount when we go on vacation.

Most of our babysitters are in a child development program at a nearby university.